by Jarrett Bell and Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell and Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

CINCINNATI -- Josh Brent must live with the loss of Jerry Brown for the rest of his life.

The Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle, facing DUI manslaughter charges as the driver in the single-vehicle crash in Irving, Texas, early Saturday morning that resulted in the death of his close friend and teammate, acknowledged as much in a statement released through his agent Saturday night.

"I am devastated and filled with grief," Brent said in the statement. "Filled with grief for the loss of my close friend and teammate, Jerry Brown. I am also grief-stricken for his family, friends and all who were blessed enough to have known him.

"I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day for the rest of my life. My prayers are with his family, our teammates and his friends at this time."

The death of Brown, 25, a linebacker signed recently to the practice squad, undoubtedly shook the Cowboys as they learned details of the incident shortly before departing Dallas for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It's the second deadly tragedy to rock the NFL within a week, following Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher's fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, before he took his life at the team's Arrowhead Stadium training facility on the previous Saturday.

Brent was driving a 2007 Mercedes-Benz when he crashed at a construction site off a Highway 114 service road near the site of the Cowboys previous home, since-imploded Texas Stadium. Brent and Brown, also college teammates at Illinois, lived together in Las Colinas, Texas, during the weeks since Brown was signed to the practice squad.